Fitchburg City Council hires law firm for slots negotiations

FITCHBURG -- The City Council has approved hiring an outside law firm to negotiate a surrounding-community agreement with the developer of a proposed slots parlor in Leominster.

In a special meeting Thursday night, councilors voted unanimously to hire Pannone Lopes Devereaux & West, LLC, a Boston-based firm with experience in negotiations between municipalities and casino developers.

The city is looking to negotiate the agreement with The Cordish Cos., a company that has proposed a $200 million slots parlor on Jungle Road in Leominster.

Under the Massachusetts Gaming Act, neighboring communities that may feel any kind of impact from such a proposed facility may negotiate agreements with developers to provide mitigation.

Each surrounding community may receive up to $50,000 for the purpose of negotiating the agreements, the funding for which comes from the developer's application fee to the state.

The Cordish Cos. has until Oct. 4 to submit a final application for the slots parlor to the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, leaving the city little time to come to an agreement beforehand.

The slots facility must first be approved by Leominster voters. A referendum vote will take place there on Sept. 24.

The request to hire the law firm was put before the City Council last week by City Solicitor John Barrett but was a late file. He asked councilors to suspend the rules to approve it, but they did not feel comfortable voting on it without having more time to research it.

Advertisement

Councilor Stephan Hay requested that councilors have the opportunity to give their individual input.

Councilor Nicholas Carbone was appointed as the council liaison in the negotiation process. Mayor Lisa Wong said the council may also stay apprised via special presentations or by holding executive session.

In other business Thursday, Wong informed the Finance Committee, which met before the special full City Council meeting, that she received notice of the certification of free cash from the previous fiscal year in the amount of just over $2.3 million.

She also provided councilors with a rough outline of what that the cash might be used for, suggesting $550,000 for snow and ice removal, $500,000 for school spending, $500,000 to be put in the stabilization fund, and $200,000 to start the process of converting streetlights to energy-efficient LED lights, among other items.

Wong said the list is only an initial accounting and will likely be revised.

She also informed the Finance Committee of her intention to form an OPEB Trust Fund, which would be a savings account that could only be used for the purpose of paying down the city's other postemployment benefit costs.

The Finance Committee also voted 3-2 to table an ordinance change regarding the salaries of the city solicitor and assistant city solicitor for further discussion.

Finance Chairman Marcus DiNatale said he is "outright opposed" to it, and Councilor David Clark said he would not vote for it either.

"I think it's an insult to every taxpayer out there who's still waiting for their streetlight to be turned on, which would cost 100 bucks a year," DiNatale said.

He expressed concern that increasing salaries would then increase already ballooning pension and OPEB costs, and said Leominster, a city of the same size, is spending less on legal services.

Councilor Joel Kaddy asked that the council look into Leominster's legal costs for the purpose of doing an actual comparison analysis.

During the budget process, the council approved a $3,000 salary increase for Barrett and a $2,000 increase for Assistant City Solicitor Mark Goldstein. Wong and Barrett were confused by the opposition of DiNatale and Clark, saying the ordinance change is simply a formality related to an increase already approved by the council.

Welcome to your discussion forum: Sign in with a Disqus account or your social networking account for your comment to be posted immediately, provided it meets the guidelines. (READ HOW.)
Comments made here are the sole responsibility of the person posting them; these comments do not reflect the opinion of The Sentinel and Enterprise. So keep it civil.